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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The Mystery of Romans: the theme of- restoration of Israel
  • Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 15:05:13 -0600


Brett,
Sorry, I was apparently not clear. Let me copy my comment and explain it.
Your basic line of argument is well made, and I too argue that "Christian"
identity is a mistaken category at this time.

I had written:
> Yes, I do not believe those two options represent Paul's voice, although
> the
> latter is an attractive alternative, apart (for me), that is, from any
> notion that everyone is going to become Christians in the end (a reading
> that seems to defy the logic of Paul's criticism of gentile arrogance in the
> first place). >>

What I mean to bring out is that I find it unlikely that Paul meant in Rom.
11 that all Israelites would--in the end--become believers in Jesus as
Christ "because of" the miraculous hand of God, e.g., revealing Jesus at a
parousia after "the full number of (="all" in most interpretations) the
Gentiles have believed in Jesus apart from such a miracle. I believe he
believed the whole of Israel would be restored, but not by that means.
Rather, the part believing in Jesus would turn to the nations (=the fullness
of the Gentiles) as a part of the strategy for demonstrating to the part of
Israel not "yet" convinced that the end of the ages had dawned (=that time
when the nations will turn to Israel's God as the One God of all the
nations). Those Israelites would be "jealous" of the role of Paul and the
other Israelites who were bringing "Israel's" message of restoration.

How would revealing the mystery of a miraculous parousia after Gentiles
believe serve to either put the Christ-believing Gentiles in Rome in their
place, or to spur them on to a new level of obligation to live humbly so
that the Israelites who were not sharing their convictions would be
challenged to reconsider "the time"? In other words, the message as usually
interpreted seems to me more like a message that these Gentiles will "win in
the end" anyway, by a miracle of God's doing regardless of what these
Gentiles do; but that flies in the face of the rhetorical intent Paul
admits: to circumscribe Gentile arrogance among the Christ-believing
Gentiles in Rome, because their own action is part of the plan of God, and
thus can hinder God's hand. (It is this last point I was trying to allude to
in response to the question of the seeming failure of Paul's plan; perhaps
Paul's plan was thwarted by the response of the Gentiles as much as the
response of many of his fellow Jews).

Regards,
Mark

--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT home.com





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